DAVE FULLER, QMI Agency

We heard Billy Sweatt was lightning quick and now he’s gone in a flash. The Colorado College speedster’s career as a Maple Leafs is over before it ever started.

Frustrated by the Leafs inability to sign the former Blackhawks prospect, general manager Brian Burke told Sweatt and his Chicago-based on Friday — nicely we’re sure — to take a hike.

“In light of the signing of Marcel Mueller, we are withdrawing all offers to Bill Sweatt,” Burke said in an e-mail to the Sun on Friday.

Mueller is the rugged, 6-foot-3, 220-pound winger from the German Olympic team to whom the Leafs awarded a two-year, entry-level contract on Wednesday.

Burke thinks some day the 22-year-old could be a top-six forward with the team and he didn’t cost the club a single body or prospect.

Sweatt, a 6-foot, 180-pound winger who spent the past four seasons at Colorado College, was, as it turns out, a wasted throw-in in the recent Kris Versteeg deal.

Toronto traded winger Viktor Stalberg and prospects Chris DiDomenico and Philippe Paradis to the Hawks for Versteeg and Sweatt, knowing that if Sweatt didn’t sign a contract with the Leafs by Aug. 15, he would become an unrestricted free agent.

The Hawks selected Sweatt in the second round (32nd over-all) of the 2007 draft, but were never able to come to terms with the Illinois native. After three years without a contract, Sweat was eligible for free agency.

Burke, meanwhile, has decided to move on.

“We liked his (Sweatt’s) foot speed, he has a chance, that’s all,” he wrote. “(But) we are allowed a max of 50 contracts. We would rather save the spot (than continue negotiating a deal with his agent).”

Sweat scored 15 goals and 18 assists in 39 games with Colorado as a senior.

The Hawks selected Sweatt six spots ahead of future Montreal Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban in 2007, a year the Leafs didn’t have a pick until the third round, selecting Dale Mitchell.

STEMPNIAK RESTLESS

Lee Stempniak, always a threat to score with the Leafs — though he rarely did — is getting the cold shoulder from the Phoenix Coyotes and a lot of other NHL teams.

As ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun points out, next to Ilya Kovalchuk, Stempniak — with 28 goals last season — is the most productive scorer left on the free agent market.

The Leafs traded the slumping Stempniak to Phoenix last March, where he suddenly caught fire with 13 goals in his first 14 games. But he turned cold again in the playoffs, with just two assists in seven games.

Coyotes general manager, Don Maloney, admits he made a “low offer” to Stempniak.

FREE OR PRICELESS?

The same day the Buffalo Sabres were upping single game prices from $1 to $7 per ticket, the Carolina Hurricanes invited their fans to watch a game for free.

Okay, it’s just a pre-season game — Oct. 1 against the Atlanta Thrashers. But, when your fan base is cracking, time to crank up the promo machine.

The Sabres, who a few years ago weren’t selling out many games themselves, can now afford to bump prices.

They recently capped season ticket sales at 14,825 , after 98% of last season’s subscribers renewed for 2010-11 in spite of a 5 % hike.